Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.70%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Metals&Mining sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.70% to hit a new all time high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU), which rose 6.00% or 0.15 points to trade at 2.65 at the close. Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) added 4.72% or 2.32 points to end at 51.46 and Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) was up 4.21% or 0.02 points to 0.50 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which lost 4.52% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.74 in late trade. Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX:NEC) declined 3.85% or 0.05 points to end at 1.25 and Breville Group Ltd (ASX:BRG) shed 3.31% or 1.17 points to 34.15.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 578 to 547 and 491 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.68% to 11.83.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.46% or 12.40 to $2,680.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.14% or 0.78 to hit $68.96 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.26% or 0.90 to trade at $72.44 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.41% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 0.03% to 98.25.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 100.09.